Feed items
Top 5 Financial Moves to Make This Year
With a new year comes the chance to have a fresh start. According to a Fidelity study, more than one-third of Americans set a financial resolution for 2017. Whether or not you set a financial resolution, though, improving your finances is likely still important to you. To help with this, we came up with a list of the top five financial moves to make this year.
1. Create a Realistic Budget
A budget is simply a plan for your money. It can be as minimal or as comprehensive as you like. What’s important is that you know how much money you bring in versus how much money you spend and save.
Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps
While I’ve been somewhat critical of Dave Ramsey and his “Debt Snowball” in the past, he’s definitely helped an awful lot of people get their finances in order. Thus, I thought that it might be worth spending a bit of time talking about Dave’s “Baby Steps” for getting out of debt and improving your finances. Here they are:
How to Save Money on Life Insurance
Life insurance is an incredibly important financial product. Unfortunately, it’s also relatively costly. With that in mind, I thought I’d put together some tips for saving money when you’re in the market for a life insurance policy.
Get healthy
Any insurer worth their salt will require a physical as part of the underwriting process. The good news is that it’s easy — they’ll send someone out to your home or office. Smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, etc. will all result in significantly higher premiums. So, leading a generally healthy lifestyle will save you a lot of money on your life insurance premiums.
Passive Income Streams: What They Are and Where to Find Them
Passive income is money received on a regular basis that requires little effort to maintain. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
Generating passive income is a great financial goal because it’s a smart way to build wealth. One thing to realize is that creating passive income requires an upfront investment — whether it’s money or time. You’ll need to be committed in order to be successful at creating a passive income stream. Here are three passive ideas and how they work:
Idea #1: Investing
Investing is a tried and true way to make passive income. Of all the passive income ideas, investing is probably one of the most passive. The most significant investment you’ll make is your money upfront. There isn’t much upkeep after that.
Current High-Yield Online Savings Account Rates
I frequently receive e-mails asking my opinion as to which online bank has the best high-yield savings account. I’ve used several online banks over the years for my emergency fund and look to a few factors in selecting a savings account:
- The interest rate (of course)
- Minimum deposit requirements
- Monthly maintenance fees
- The website and how easy it is to use
Considering these factors, we’ll look at a number of high yield savings accounts. Here’s an automated rate table that will show you several of the top options.
Banking Deal: Earn 1.15% APY on an FDIC-insured savings account at Barclays.
Contribute to Your Roth IRA, Even if it Stretches Your Budget
Your 2016 taxes are due in just over three months. That also means that you have just over three months left to make any 2016 IRA contributions that you might have been putting off.
But what if you’ve neglected to contribute to an IRA because you’re not sure you can afford it? Maybe the only cash you have on hand is earmarked for emergencies, and you’re not willing to risk the 10% early withdrawal penalty that comes with a traditional IRA.
What’s a Side Hustle (and How Can It Help You Achieve Financial Freedom)?
Whether you want to pay off outstanding debt, save up for a house, or just have extra spending money, having a side hustle is a great way to reach your financial goals faster. The nice thing about side hustles is that they do more than just bring in extra income. Side hustles can be a source of fulfillment as well.
Before we discuss how to find the best side hustle for you and look at some ideas, let’s define what a side hustle is:
Dave Ramsey is Bad at Math
See also: Dave Ramsey is Good at Psychology
If you’re familiar with Dave Ramsey, then you’ve no doubt heard of his ‘snowball’ approach to paying down your debt. In short, Ramsey suggests that you make minimum payments on all but the debt with the lowest balance. Any additional money you have goes to that lowest balance debt. Once the low-balance debt is paid off, you add the dollars that had been going there to what you’ve been paying against the next lowest debt. And so on.
How to Get Out of Debt
On the way home from work the other night, I heard a radio commercial touting a debt reduction system that (supposedly) works like no other. As I drove along, I couldn’t help but chuckle. After all, they made it sound like there’s some sort of silver bullet out there that will magically make your debt disappear — for a fee, of course.
Guess what? There isn’t. That’s the bad news. The good news is that, with a bit of hard work and focus, you can do it on your own. What follows are some tips for making it happen.
Paying Off Your Mortgage Early: Some Things to Consider
Let’s talk about a somewhat controversial subject, at least in financial planning circles: paying off your mortgage early.
A great deal of conventional wisdom says you should never pay a mortgage off early. Well, I’ve gone against that conventional wisdom. Twice. I don’t know if that means I lack conventionality or I lack wisdom, but it seems to have worked out well.
First, I’ll explain why I thought it was a good idea, and then I’ll address some of the common arguments against paying your mortgage off early. Finally, I’ll give you some advice about what to consider if you face this decision.
Facebook
Become a fan
Twitter
Follow us
RSS
Subscribe